Residents group fights plans for traveller site

Villagers raise £12,000 to combat building of 13 permanent plots in Silchester

Wed, 23 Aug 2017

Reporter:

Charlotte Booth

Contact:

01635 886637

A GROUP of Silchester residents have raised more than £12,000 to fight plans for a permanent travellers’ site off Little London Road.

On Tuesday, August 8, the application to change the use of land to a residential caravan site comprising 13 plots with additional day rooms, in addition to the construction of hardstanding and access road, was received by Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.

If approved, each of the 13 caravan plots on the land at the rear of Culhams Mill, Little London Road, will have a static caravan, a touring caravan and a separate day room.

These plots will be arranged in two adjacent rows of five caravan plots to the north west of the site, and a further three to the south east.

In June, the group – known as the Calleva Society – appealed to Silchester residents to help generate funds to contest the application.

In a public letter in the June edition of the Silchester Magazine, the chairman of the society, Steve Spillane, signalled the intention to fight the planning application.

He said: “To waste no time, the Calleva Society would like to employ the services of Aaron Smith of Fowlers Architecture and Planning LLP, who did a great job in assisting our friends in the Baughurst Society to object to a planning application for the traveller camp.”

Last week, Mr Spillane told the Newbury Weekly News: “The Calleva Society are aware of the application and will be working with our advisors on lodging an objection.”

In February, following signs that the foundations for a caravan park were being constructed without planning permission, an injunction was served.

The injunction prevents any tree felling or taking building materials on to the site.

Enforcement officers from Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council, as well as traveller liaison officers, are making regular visits to the site to ensure copies of a High Court injunction remain positioned around the site and the conditions of the injunction are being complied with.

A High Court date has been arranged for September to discuss the breach of the injunction.